"Something like this can't be done alone!"
Leilin smiled as he sat down beside Isabel and took hold of her arm.
"Don't..." Isabel struggled.
"Sit still!" Leilin's expression turned grave, causing Isabel to falter, her grip weakening involuntarily.
Leilin slowly rolled up Isabel's sleeve. What he saw wasn't the fair, delicate skin of a young woman, but rather a strange arm covered in scales. At the shoulder and elbow, there was an arc-shaped wound—the injury Stephen had inflicted earlier.
"Demonic transformation? And it seems to be a fairly advanced transmutation ritual..."
Leilin shrugged, then skillfully used magical energy to treat Isabel's wound, finishing with medicine and bandages.
"It's ugly... isn't it?" At some point, Isabel had turned her face away, her voice seemingly choked with tears.
"No! Actually, it's not bad at all!"
Leilin said this quite seriously. After all, his own transformation into a warlock hadn't been any better—he had practically abandoned his human form entirely.
"There's one more thing..."
Leilin seemed focused on the treatment, but his voice continued softly.
"I want to establish a privateering fleet. I'd like you to come help me!"
"Be pirates? Why?" Isabel's face stiffened. Privateering was just a fancy word for piracy.
"They came to bully us—only right to return the favor!" Leilin let out a cold laugh. "As for personnel, those pirates from the Black Tiger Pirate Group—I could have had them hanged right away in my capacity as lord. Now we'll just put them to good use."
"Also, I've found you a capable first mate. That Robin Hood fellow—he performed well today, and more importantly, he knows the pirate code inside and out."
"With our people as the backbone, those pirates filling out the ranks, plus the captured ships and Stephen's wealth, we should be able to assemble a force in no time. I need you to keep tight control over it..."
Leilin deftly finished wrapping the bandage. By now, Isabel had wiped the tears from her face, restoring her usual hard-edged image—though Leilin felt the crying girl from moments ago resembled the cousin he remembered from childhood a bit more.
"What makes you think I'd agree?"
Isabel looked at Leilin.
"Because I'm asking you! My dear cousin!" Leilin grinned, and a faint blush crept onto Isabel's cheeks.
"I need to think about it! Leave first!"
Clearly, being alone with Leilin in the cramped ship's cabin made Isabel somewhat uncomfortable.
"I'll await your answer!" Leilin stood and left, politely closing the door behind him. In truth, he knew she had already agreed—for this arrangement benefited Isabel as well.
"...A high-ranking demon? Heh heh..." Leilin stroked his chin, a peculiar gleam in his eyes.
Commanding a pirate fleet! It sounded rather heretical—after all, for a noble to engage in such criminal activity was truly a stain on the family name.
But in reality, Leilin knew exactly what evil lurked beneath the veneer of glory, civilization, and nobility that the world's aristocrats wore like skin. One could say that every gold coin in a noble's possession was stained with the blood and tears of innocents.
Even his own father, Baron Jonas, had secretly hoped to gain the support of some pirate group—or to establish a privateering fleet to strike at his enemies—and had been working toward that goal.
Of course, the baron's title was still too new. Simply managing the fief properly was challenge enough, so his ambitions had never been realized.
As for crimes of piracy? That was a laugh. No noble bothered with such things!
"This is newly discovered open sea. It means none of the entrenched powers have a foothold here—it's still a blank slate. And the profits from these waters? No way I'm letting that Marquis Louis take them all."
Leilin sneered. In the future, whether purchasing advanced spell materials or building a wizard's tower, he would need vast resources and gold. He could hardly just hand over the open sea's profits to someone else.
Besides, he wasn't the type to take a beating without fighting back.
That Marquis's so-called "favor"—Leilin would repay it with interest someday. The Marquis controlled an armed merchant fleet and a few pirate groups among the Bodhi Archipelago. Was that really so impressive?
If not for his concern about the Fairlane Island and the family above it, Leilin alone could wage a guerrilla campaign that would leave the Marquis tearing his hair out.
"After establishing the pirate group, I can also give my cousin a place to settle. After all, in a lawless region like the open sea, the gaze of the gods won't be too focused—occasional sacrificial rituals can be kept maximally secret..."